Nile high club: Our unforgettable balloon flight in search of a lost Egyptian king

The dawn light struck the face of Ra. Finn stared into his stony eyes, waiting for an answer. We had come to Cairo on a mission, as well as to try to distract our seven-year-old from his longing for a Nintendo DSi for his birthday. If almighty Ra, creator of all life whose features are said to be chiselled into the Sphinx, couldn't take his mind off Super Mario, then no one could.

Flight fantastic: A balloon passes silently over the Colossi of Memnon on the west bank of the Nile

'Ra called each of the pharaohs into existence by saying their secret names,' our guide Mohammed whispered into his ear as he took his hand. 'Mr Finn, the sun god can solve every mystery.'

Finn gazed at the Sphinx, summoned his courage and repeated his question, 'Where have you hidden the lost king of Egypt?'

An hour earlier we had circled the nearby Pyramids. In the half-light Mohammed had introduced Finn to one of the Wonders of the World. 'The Great Pyramid used to gleam like the brightest star,' he had enthused. 'Its polished limestone reflected the light and the power of Ra.'

He knelt beside him and swept his arm toward the heavens. 'Pharaohs began their ultimate voyage here. They flew up to the North Star, across the gates of eternity. The Pyramids celebrated life's continuity. They protected the pharaohs from obliteration.'

'So they wouldn't disappear like King Ahmose,' said Finn.

'Ahmose was our most supreme and heroic warrior, Mr Finn,' declared Mohammed, straightening up and looking across the hot Giza plateau. 'He founded the New Kingdom. But the location of his tomb is the greatest puzzle. His real mummy has never been found. Only his name remains.'

Finn studies the ancient hieroglyphics at Karnak

On our holiday quest we left Cairo and flew south to Luxor on the Nile, Ahmose's ancient capital. In Ahmose's day the Nile was called Iteru, the river, for without it there would have been no Egypt. Its annual flood and rich, black silt fertilised a narrow strip of land that enabled the birth of the world's first nation state.

The resulting achievements still boggle the mind. Along its lush green banks, 30 royal dynasties ruled for three millennia. Its people made the first paper from its papyrus reeds and invented writing. They built the first stone monuments.

The Great Pyramid, one of 125 in the country, was built from 2.3million blocks of limestone and granite transported along its current. The Sphinx, overlooking its waters, may be the oldest man-made structure on the planet.

Our Luxor visit started at the Temples of Karnak, the most astonishing religious edifice ever built. Assembled, decorated and extended over 1,500 years, it's the equivalent of ten Westminster Abbeys and a dozen Saxon churches massed around Stonehenge.

Finn darted ahead into the Amun enclosure, dwarfed by the towering forest of 134 papyrus-shaped columns. He gazed at the deeply cut hieroglyphs and then climbed up to the inner sanctuary, the house of the gods that represented the primeval hill on which the first Egyptians believed the world was created.

At its peak the Egyptian empire stretched fron Libya to Syria and Sudan, and for centuries its wealth was channelled into Karnak.

The Minoans, Hittites and rulers of Babylonia sent gifts, including princesses for the pharaoh's harem, asking in return for protection and gold which was 'as common as dust' in Egypt.

During the New Kingdom, as many as 81,000 priests, craftsmen and labourers worked in or for the temple. Ancient owls, vines and dancers, the teeming life of the Nile traced in turquoise and red oxide pigments, live on in the delicate carvings.

This monumental creation clearly made an impression on Finn, as did the newly unearthed, two-mile-long Avenue of the Sphinxes lined by pharaoh-headed lions. But on none of its carved walls or slender obelisks could he find the name of Ahmose.

We retreated to our own sanctuary to plan the next move. The Maritim Jolie Ville Resort occupies a private island in the Nile.

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Guests in the wide infinity pool and on the shady Nakheel Terrace gaze out at passing fishing boats, Nile cruisers and the stratified limestone hills of the Valley of the Kings across the smooth green waters. There are six resataurants serving international and Egyptian dishes.

Welcome home,' the deputy manager said to Finn, who had never before visited the hotel. 'This is your house in Egypt.'

Finn took him at his word and made himself comfortable beneath a thatched sunshade then, after about two seconds' contemplation, threw himself into the waterfall-fed children's pool.

He was thoughtful at dinner, staring up at the night sky. He saw a shooting star and wondered aloud if it was a pharaoh's spirit streaking, belatedly, towards a union with Ra. The idea of loss, of the unseen living on, seemed to enthral him. Then he nodded into the darkness across the Nile. 'Ahmose's tomb must be over there, somewhere.'

At breakfast, Finn announced he needed help in his quest. As usual Mohammed was willing to oblige. On the west bank of the Nile stood the Colossi of Memnon. Since Graeco-Roman times the two majestic, enthroned figures, each cut from a single block of stone and weighing 1,000 tons, have attracted tourists, including t he Emperor Hadrian.

Back then one of the statues had emitted an eerie whistle, which Greeks and Romans believed to be a prophetic greeting to the goddess of the dawn. Although the sound hadn't been heard since the 3rd Century AD (apparently when a crack in the torso was repaired), Finn circled the Colossi, whispering his question and listening for a response. The Sphinx hadn't answered him but maybe Memnon would.

A hot air balloon passes over Abu Simbel temple

Ten minutes later he returned with a smile on his lips. 'I have the answer,' he said.

The following dawn a propane burner
flared above our heads. Around us, half a dozen other hotair balloons
began to lift off the ground. We were soon above Hatshepsut's dazzling
temple, cut into the rugged cliffs, over the Ramesseum funerary complex
that inspired Shelley's poetry and above archaeologist Howard Carter's
domed villa, where he lived during his six-year search for
Tutankhamun's tomb.

During the 45-minute flight Finn kept his eyes fixed on the west.

'There,'
he announced with conviction, pointing towards the Valley of the Kings,
the burial place of the pharaohs for more than 500 years between the
16th and 11th Centuries BC. 'That's where we'll find Ahmose.'

The
Valley of the Kings is like nowhere else on Earth. A total of 63 royal
tombs are hidden in a secluded Theban valley. About 3,500 years ago the
pharaohs abandoned pyramids as their eternal resting place as they were
too easily looted.

Instead they dug secret passages deep into the bedrock, carving out underground complexes with as many as 100 rooms.

With a child's fearlessness, Finn ran down the gently inclined, rockcut corridors, descending through halls decorated with wondrous serpents and haunting demons, mirroring the journey of the sun god to the underworld.

He crawled Tin Tin-like around royal sarcophagi and gawped at the brightly painted heavens in the burial chambers. Back in the sunshine, Finn stared up at the surrounding cliffs, scanning the rock-face for a hidden entrance. 'I'm sure Ahmose will be found here one day,' he said.

Mohammed had told him that two new tombs were recently uncovered - and are yet to be opened.

'But aren't you sorry not to have discovered him yourself?' I asked.

'That's all right,' Finn replied with a shrug. 'I like that it's still a mystery. And do you know what I realised? That his name is not lost, because I remember it.'

We watched the sun set behind the Theban hills. After a moment of reflection, Finn took my hand and asked: 'Daddy, now that we've seen Egypt, can I have a Nintendo for my birthday please?'

Getting there

Rory and his family travelled with leading Egypt specialist Discover Egypt (0844 880 0462, www.discoveregypt.co.uk)

They spent five nights in Luxor at the five-star Maritim Jolie Ville Resort on King's Island and two nights at the five-star Sofitel Le Sphinx in Cairo.

Prices start from £899pp, child prices from £699, including return flights from Gatwick to Luxor, internal flights to Cairo, all transfers and accommodation on a B&B basis.